A few months prior, my friend and co-worker Lisa, approached me about visiting Hawaii's Big Island. Her family owned a condominium just outside of Kailua-Kona and would be selling it this year. So for one last hurrah, she asked both Kevin and I to join her for a quick weekend trip. Of course not having to spend any money on lodging, I jumped at the chance. We had an evening flight on Delta out of LAX with 5 hours of flying time ahead of us. Arrving in Kailua-Kona just after 9pm, we quickly retrieved our bags and hailed a taxi to take us to Lisa's nearby condo. After settling in and figuring out our sleeping arrangements, we headed out in search of someplace for a late dinner and to pick up some snacks and food for ... read more

After travelling around Peru for over a week with a set schedule, it was a bit strange to wake up today without a planned itinerary. Today was my last day in Peru with Kevin continuing by himself down to Arequipa. Although I had no problems travelling with Kevin, I wanted today to just be a day by myself doing what I wanted to do. It ended up being perfect as Kevin wanted to work out at a nearby Crossfit facility. Having no interest in that, I decided to just walk around Lima. On my way out, I ran into Nin who Kevin and I had become closest with on this trip. She was on her way to the airport, flying to Buenos Aires to continue her travels around South America. There to also say goodbye to ... read more

Today was pretty much a travel day as most of the group would make our way back to Lima. However, there were 4 of us who were heading out to the Amazon jungle for a few days. We said our goodbyes to Maree and Beverly as well as the Finns, Tarja and Juha as they all had early flights out to the Amazon jungle. Eventually, those of us who remained made our way to the Cuzco airport for our quick 1 hour flight on Avianca back to Lima. Later that evening, Kevin and I took the 6 of us that remained over to El Parquetito, a restaurant that Kevin and I had our first Peruvian meal just over a week ago. Afterwards, the 6 of us decided to get a little dancing in. We went into ... read more

After arriving in Cuzco last night, we hung out at the hotel where I proceeded to have a milk based coffee drink. Looking back on it, this was not to be a good decision. With today being our free day in Cuzco, I woke up with an upset stomach with a bit of diarrhea. However, not wanting this to ruin my day, I remained a trooper and set out with Kevin for some exploring. Having been to Machu Picchu yesterday, everything else we would see in Peru would be anticlimactic. We set out for one of the top attractions in Cuzco, the church of Santo Domingo that was built atop a famous Inca ruin called Qorikancha. All that remains of Qorikancha were some of the original walls that were once plated in gold as the Spanish ... read more

We woke up extremely early this morning for undoubtedly the highlight of any trip to Peru and the reason why everyone booked this tour, Machu Picchu! Wake up call was around 4:30am as Rivelino wanted to make sure that we got in good position for the buses that would take us up to Machu Picchu. We arrived in town at around 6:00am and there was already a long line for the buses. The surrounding mountains were shrouded in fog and as we were making our way up the switchbacks to Machu Picchu, we literally could not see a thing. Arriving at the top, we were assured by Rivelino that in due time, the fog would lift and the Machu Picchu ruins would magically reveal itself. Despite the early hour, Machu Picchu was already bustling with tourists. ... read more

This morning we left the peaceful town of Ollantaytambo to make our way to the town of Aguas Calientes, the gateway to Machu Picchu. Rivelino had arranged for some moto-taxis to take us from the hotel to the train station for our 9:00am departure. The ride into Aguas Calientes only took about 2 hours as we rode through some incredibly scenic jungle scenery. About halfway through the ride, the train had stopped to drop off those who were going on the multi-day Inca Trail hike. Kevin had signed up for a one day trek on this trail so he was let off here and would meet us in town later that evening. In retrospect if I had this trip to do over again, I probably would have opted to do the multi-day hike on the Inca ... read more

This morning we headed out of Cuzco aboard a private G Adventures coach for a full day of sightseeing in the Sacred Valley. First stop of the day was the Cristo Blanco Statue. Similar to the Christ The Redeemer Statue in Rio, the Cristo Blanco Statue overlooks the city of Cuzco with it's arms extended at the sides. The statue was a gift from a group of Christian Palestinians seeking refuge in Cuzco. When they finally returned to their homeland, the status was created to show their gratitude to the city. There was nothing too special about the statue but the views below of the city were impressive. We continue driving towards the Sacred Valley and stopped in the small village of Ccaccaccollo. The main purpose of stopping here was to visit a women's weaving Co-op ... read more

Not a very good start this morning to the first full day of the trip. Not only did we have to wake up really early to catch our flight to Cuzco but I had to do this still hungover from last night's activities. We all met up in the hotel lobby and 7:00am and piled into a van for the long drive to the airport. From the Lima airport, we had a one hour flight to Cuzco where we would be going from sea level to almost 11,000 feet in elevation. Our flight was delayed by about an hour. Despite the delay, I was so impressed by the airline, Avianca. Unlike most American airlines, there was so much space between the seat in front of me allowing me to slouch in my seat. Once we arrived ... read more

After struggling to get through this last day of work, Kevin and I were finally on our way to our long anticipated trip to Peru. We signed up for this 8 day trip with G Adventures about 2 months ago and these past 2 months I have been filled with excitement to finally get to see Machu Picchu. Kevin's girlfriend drove us to the airport Wednesday night for our 12:15 am flight on LAN Airlines directly to Lima. The LAN flight was very smooth and surprisingly, I was able to get a good amount of sleep during the flight. 8 hours later, we landed in Lima for my first time in South America. Obtaining our luggage and going through customs was by far the smoothest I have ever experienced and within 30 minutes of landing, we ... read more

Our Intrepid tour officially ended this morning. Daniel had already left early this morning as he had to be in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico to begin another tour. Ken, Lindy, Oren, Manfred, and Lalanti were catching the 8:30 ferry back to Belize City as they all had flights to go back home. Nikki hung out with us until about 11 when she caught a ferry back to Belize City. That left me, Melanie, Troy, and the 2 Austrialian girls as the only ones remaining. Most of the group met up in the lobby at 8:30 to say our final goodbyes to those leaving back to Belize City. It was sad to say bye to everyone but this group didn't really forge a huge bond like other groups I've been with, most likely due to the short ... read more